Data Shuuhai EXECUTE
by Rad Gainson
Summary: The ongoing adventures of the Data Carrier Navi Raile.EXE and his operator, Taylor. Follow them on their journey as they discover what it truly means to carry the meaning of love, life, and mass explosions.


::Operator Speech Heard on the Net / Net Navi Speech Heard in the Real World::

They swarmed through the broken pathways of the netspace, as virii were wont to do. Dozens of them prowled the twisting directories; perhaps not impressive to some, but for most they would prove daunting, as many of the programs within the server were quick to take cover. They were safe, they were not the target. Hardhats clanged about as tiny feet launched cute-yet-dangerous round viruses from platform to platform, passed by the quicker fire-breathing wolves and hornets taken flight. Such appearances led one to wonder as to who might have constructed such programs, but few dared to ask.

A humanoid shape darted from behind a series of 1's and 0's even as one of the wolves reduced it to flaming corruption. He slid down a multi-colored ramp as insects dive-bombed his trail, swerving from side to side to avoid their sting. A final jump and flip in midair, one quick handspring off a convenient Mettaur's helm, and the Net Navi known as Raile was again airborne and landing on a higher structure, before dashing again toward his destination.

Such was the average day in the life of a Data Carrier.

A voice carried out over the server as he rounded yet another sharp corner, running along the wall to accommodate his speed. It was feminine and rather abrupt, though there was a touch of fondness if one knew to look for it. ::Raile, the viruses have broken down the main pathway to the destination. It looks like we'll have to find another route. Think you can play tag with those things for a while longer?::

The white Net Navi grinned and made a mock show of his disappointment. "Aww, we're not gonna show them our one-two combo attack? They came all this way to see us!" His orange scarf trailed his body length behind him as he sped up in his flat run, barely dodging cannon fire from who knows where. A series of jumps took him up the sides of two vertical walls until he crested their peak and was off again, following the map readout in his mental HUD. "Can't you at least send me a chip or two? I think they're starting to learn on me; that last explosion or two felt pretty hot! Whoa!"

A hole opened up beneath him and he barely flipped around in time to launch himself away as a massive bear trap formed where he'd stood not a split second before. A bead of sweat ran down the back of his helmet as it sank back into its hole. "H'okay, wasn't expecting that. You sure the client was expecting us today? I don't think he bothered checking his traps first."

His operator's voice came through with a hint of amusement. ::What, I thought you were complaining that our last few jobs were too easy for you?:: He could almost hear the smile in her voice, and he couldn't help but grin himself despite the danger apparent. ::All right you big baby, I've found us an alternate route. It'll take a bit to open though, so go ahead and play with them a little. Just don't go damaging that data packet!::

Raile grinned wickedly. "Heh, got anything harder?"

::Hush you, or I'll only send the basic stuff.:: Windows popped open in his mental HUD, indicating a download in progress. ::I think you can take of things with these. Have a blast! Battle Chip, Gatling! Mini Bomb! Yo-Yo! Triple Slot-In!:: The aforementioned weapons completed downloading and lit up in the HUD. Looking over the approaching swarm of viruses and the wide space offered by the structure he'd just landed on, Raile grinned as he realized what his partner had been implying. "Read you loud and clear! Open the way while I tear things up!"

::Way ahead of you.::

Bracing himself, Raile laid a hand onto the newly-morphed triple barrel machine gun that had replaced his right hand. "Like always. Better hurry and catch up!" As the last of the viruses reached the open area, he took aim and let loose with a flash of vulcan fire, tearing through the flyers and dotting the landscape with tiny pits, throwing up digital dust. The viral programs screeched to a halt, unable to detect their target through the makeshift smokescreen and not wanting to receive the promised hurt of those little bullets. Then, a disk with biting teeth spinning around its circumference zipped through the dust, piercing and quartering an unfortunate wolf. The rest began darting this way and that, managing to avoid the deadly yo-yo and causing it to eat through large sections of the floor instead of their bodies. By now, the dust had begun to clear, but Raile was already airborne, landing with a spinning flourish that deposited mini bombs into the trenches he'd carved. A quick mock salute, a push of his feet, and the simultaneous detonation of six strategically placed bombs ensured the rather spectacular collapse of the entire data structure.

The force of the explosion catapulted the already-airborne Raile to a perfect trajectory toward an uninhabited platform. "Out with a bang... now THAT'S virus-busting with flair!"

::Got it. Heads up, you're flying right into the opening I made.::

"Huh?"

Raile flew through the hole in the platform with all the grace of a brick, scattering dust that could be seen from other servers.

"Achah..."

Taylor Gunning flipped her headset off, dirty blonde tousled hair flowing down her neck and into her lowered hoodie. The screen inside the headset indicated the transfer of data had been successful, so their mission was technically a win... though now she'd have to program a repair for her impulsive partner. At least he was learning; the last few times they'd tried that particular chip combination, Raile had nearly blown himself up along with his targets. Perhaps adding Air Shoes would let him escape faster, but then the processing speed of the download would be four cycles too short... those viruses wouldn't let a window like that slip by more than once. But could her Navi really pull off something that complicated?

Bah, she felt a migraine coming on.

Stepping gingerly over stacks of computing magazines and discarded instant food packaging, Taylor stepped over to the microwave while her mind acted on auto-pilot, fingers dancing over the touchscreen of her PET in order to set up the repair sequence for her Navi. It was something she'd done often enough that she could and sometimes did manage to accomplish it in her sleep. A set of code that one hand would be sufficient for allowed her to quickly grasp the waiting kettle next to the appliance before the scalding contents were poured into a waiting ramen cup. Who had time to cook nowadays?

No, she preferred to spend her energy on making sure they could stay one step ahead of their enemies. Being the ones often called upon for clandestine delivery of most anything, those numbered in the hundreds, though the particulars tended to differ with each job. The viruses were a joke; it was dealing with the battle-hardened and customized Navis that was beginning to become a problem. Though he was customized from the ground up by her own efforts, Raile had never been intended to see a lot of conflict, nor had she intended to gain the sort of underworld notoriety that they'd managed to garner. As a result, many of their requests were dangerous, if not outright deadly, and the two had been forced to learn quickly just to keep from being destroyed by those who were opposed to their clients.

Perhaps it was time to take a break... maybe look at those upgrades she'd been putting off. Wait, no... it looked like they'd racked up another half-dozen requests while they were mission bound.

"Bah... I'll deal with all this later," Taylor muttered to herself, slurping down her now-cooked ramen before sliding off to bed. Raile said nothing, sleeping none-too-peacefully as the repair program worked its coding magic on his damaged body.

All too soon for her tastes, the alarm began going off accompanied by Raile's all-too-friendly-for-the-morning chatter. ::C'mon, Taylor! Up and at 'em! Time's a'wasting! Get your fat butt out of bed before you get yelled at by the doc again!:: Almost like clockwork, really; Taylor was never a morning person, especially when she got up less than three hours after going to sleep. There were times she wanted to smash her PET to little pieces and just throw the covers back over her head.

"My butt's not fat... oog." She replied intelligently, her higher processes not yet in gear. She reached for the waiting energy drink by her bed, and had to fumble around a bit before she managed to find the one can that wasn't empty. Looked like it was time to go to the store again... "I'm up, I'm up already... turn that damn thing off already."

Taylor's morning routine was well-established, at least to those who knew her. That number amounted to Raile, but hey. A long shower to cleanse the sweat from a long night of being surrounded by computer terminals and to help fully wake her up, followed by a period of staring woefully into the mirror at her appearance. Today's morning was no different.

"Ergh..." she mumbled as she palmed her petite breasts in front of the glass surface. She'd stopped growing right around the first or second year of middle school, and because she liked wearing loose clothing, was oftentimes mistaken for a boy. Her lower than average voice and tomboyish personality probably didn't help much, but those were thoughts she tended to shove away. Now in high school, she found herself envious of all thye developing girls around her, though she'd never say as such out loud.

No, for now she was content to just stare longingly at the mirror and sniffle.

::Uhhh... Taylor?::

A mass blush covered her face as her eyes turned to pinpricks. A quick motion slapped her PET facedown on the counter as she palmed her face in embarassment, reaching for a towel. She tended to forget the gender difference between herself and her Navi at times, since like most pairs of the sort they spent practically every breathing minute together. Still, Raile was as human-like as they came, right down to his reactions to seeing her naked... or porn. Taylor still got a kick out of how freaked out he'd been when she had connected him to a rather raunchy database that one time. Though now he tended to be rather nervous around girls in general. Indeed, for several weeks afterward he couldn't even look at _her_.

Grabbing some leftover pizza from the fridge, the newly-dressed Taylor quickly gathered her things and went out the door, nearly tripping over the discarded pizza box near the entrance. Sooner or later she'd get around to cleaning up. Probably later.

Walking to school, she chatted casually with Raile about their business, Data Shuuhai. It had been an idea she'd mulled over since she was a child; basically, people wanted to send things to people. Such was the birth of email, after all. But sometimes the limitations of those formats or the locations of their recipients meant that standard operating procedure wouldn't get the job done... and as a hacker, Taylor knew well how to get around such barriers. It was a way to pay the rent, at least.

In that sense, the word Shuuhai was perfect, meaning both 'Collection' and 'Delivery'. After all, they either delivered messages or cargo, or they collected them from elsewhere and brought them back to the client. They'd gathered a reputation as well, and now had anonymous requests coming from areas all over the city for their services. Nothing on a corporate scale, but still pride-worthy considering she was a high school girl living in a simple one-room apartment ridden with pests and frankly a mess. The business helped keep the orphaned girl afloat, not to mention pay for the rising costs of upkeeping her PET and her Navi. Not that she wouldn't live on the street if that's what it took to keep him; at some point or another, she'd started caring a great deal for Raile, though to what extent she still wasn't sure. And at times, she almost felt like that affection was mutual... but of course that couldn't be the case. She created him, a thing of ones and zeroes. There was no way he could feel the way a human could... right?

Taylor found herself asking that question a lot lately.

One thing that always surprised her was how quickly Raile learned. Not just memorized, mind you; he would regularly kick a hole in her world-view by actively predicting what she was going to say or do at any given moment. Not always correctly, but the ratio between correct and wrong had been steadily rising in favor of the former, and that learning curve wasn't something she was capable of crafting. But then, where had he gotten it? And why? These were questions she'd asked herself many times, but after a few years she'd given it up to just being fine the way it was and that was that.

As she approached the school gates, she saw the posters proclaiming the upcoming Valentine's day festivities and gave a sigh of dejection. Raile grinned awkwardly, a sweat bead on his face. ::Hey, we just got here... don't go getting all depressed on me now.::

Taylor closed her eyes, her brow twitching once. "I'm not getting depressed. And who asked you, anyway? Quit acting like you know anything, will you?" She knew she was being too harsh, but somehow having her Navi try and reassure her just pushed all the wrong buttons. Trying to forget about the issue entirely, the hacker girl quickly made her way through the halls and toward her class.

Raile remained quiet the rest of the way. What could he say? Likely anything, and if he did open his mouth she'd just get more irritated. Ah well, better for her to be angry at him than depressed with herself, like she tended to be. He knew first-hand how attractive his operator was, but she was so darn afraid of getting hurt that she never let anyone near. And she wondered why this time of year always came around without anything eventful happening?

Raile sighed silently. Maybe someday, she'd come around. He'd have to hope.


End file.
